A nuclear physicist who believed that he was trying to make soldiers immune to radiation, but was actually working on a new super soldier for General Thunderbolt Ross. He was so sure he was on to something that he experimented on himself, which turned him into the Hulk. He's been on the run ever since, searching for a cure, but both Ross and S.H.I.E.L.D. are tracking his whereabouts.

Adorkable: A meek, somewhat disheveled, and polite man, it seems almost unbelievable that this man turns into the Hulk.

The Cameo: Shows up in The Stinger of Iron Man 3. Stark had been narrating the movie's plot to Banner, who tried to act as a shrink but fell asleep towards the beginning.

Carpet of Virility: Mark Ruffalo was not asked to shave his chest hair for the scene in which he wakes up nude after a Hulk-out; in addition, some of it made it on to the Hulk.

Character Development: The Incredible Hulk implies that he went from repressing his anxieties that lead to his Hulking out, similarly to the 2003 film, to using meditation techniques to manage them. The end of that movie ominously showed him purposefully inducing a Hulk episode. The Avengers showed that he'd subsequently gone past anger management and constantly trying to fight the Hulk, and merely existed in a state of Tranquil Fury at all times, keeping the Hulk close but at bay through mere discipline rather than struggling to reject him. This level of acceptance leads to him being able to Hulk out at will and in turn makes the Hulk less animalistic and more generally aligned with Banner's intentions. Tellingly, The Hulk's last appearance in the Avengers film never shows him to be particularly angry, merely bellicose and helpfully destructive.

Combat Pragmatist: This Hulk is bright enough to use tools...and weapons. Supposedly, the special effects team refused to make the Abomination's pointy ears visible, otherwise they'd have to make a scene of the Hulk tearing them off and couldn't otherwise justify the Hulk NOT taking that advantage. Likewise, he hits the Abomination with everything he's got—he makes gauntlets out of cars, uses shockwaves to push him off balance before attacking, choking him with massive chains, and even rips out his elbow spikes and stabs him with them.

Composite Character: While the character as a whole is mainly based off of his mainstream comic incarnation, what caused his condition in the first place is trying to recreate a Super Soldier serum (not that he knew that) and testing it on himself, which is how Ultimate Hulk came to be. The mainstream version was irradiated by a bomb after running onto its test site.

Surprisingly, The Avengers film version brings in elements of the 2003 film as well as the 2008 reboot.

Banner's situation at the start of the movie mirrors that of Banner at the end of the 2003 film, where both of them are trying to help the local downtrodden populace while dealing with the Hulk.

Banner's relationship with the Hulk is slightly more nuanced in The Avengers film than in The Incredible Hulk, much like the 2003 version.

Bruce in The Avengers is more uptight like the 2003 version, and calmer and more self assured like in The Incredible Hulk.

The Hulk's appearance in The Avengers resembles his 2003 appearance in build and his 2008 appearance in behavior.

Bruce in The Avengers claims that he is constantly angry but very well self-controlled, no longer trying to avoid anger as in the 2008 film. This hearkens back to Bruce's anger issues in the 2003 film, where he is a constantly repressed boiling pot of rage, with the Hulk near at hand at all times; trying to fight it was an exercise in futility.

The Hulk's transformation is more closely tied to anger, as in the 2003 and most comic versions, but general excitement can also bring him out, as was the case in The Incredible Hulk.

In most other cases, Mark Ruffalo's Hulk resembles the comic version, as did the 2008 movie version. Ruffalo has also stated he drew from Bill Bixby's portrayal of Banner in the 1970s television series, which many reviewers picked up on.

Cunning Linguist: So far, he's known to speak, to some degree, Hindi, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Deadpan Snarker: You really couldn't go through all he does without developing a dry sense of humor.

Banner: Oh, they want to put me in a submerged, pressurized metal container? (the Helicarrier begins to take off) Oh, no. This is much worse.

Doing In the Scientist: Tony suggests that the Hulk (A.K.A "The Other Guy") is not triggered by Bruce's heart rate per se but that the Hulk deliberately manifests to protect Bruce in dangerous (heart rate pumping) situations. Thus, it is an ally to be embraced instead of a monster to be caged. The events of The Avengers support this view. Bruce tells The Team that Hulk interrupted his suicide attempt and later emerges in the final battle because Bruce told him to. This is supported by the fact that Banner had created a drug to forcibly lower his heart rate that, while successful in and of itself, did nothing to help his unique problem.

The Dreaded: In The Avengers, he makes people nervous just by being there, including the otherwise unflappable Black Widow.

Driven to Suicide: He tried it at one point prior to The Avengers. He has since moved on.

Banner: I got low. I didn't see an end. So I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it back out.

Dumb Muscle: Just like the Hulk Speak, this is downplayed for the Hulk compared to most of the Savage Hulk's appearances. Especially in The Avengers, he behaves more like a relatively intelligent animal (such as a gorilla) than a raging baby, and in said movie his intentions are more in line with Banner's too.

Godzilla Threshold: Both ways; if things are bad enough, only the Hulk can save you. On the other hand, if your problem is the Hulk, you're likely to cross some other Godzilla Threshold trying to fix things.

Heroic Neutral: Banner wants to be left alone by the military and S.H.I.E.L.D., and maybe use his skills to do some good. This attitude extends to the Hulk as well, who rarely fights anyone or anything that didn't try to kill him first.

Homeless Hero: He's forced to stay on the run because of the government forces chasing him. Following his transformations, Bruce is often left with nothing but the pants he is wearing. At one point, he has to beg in order to survive.

Honor Before Reason: In The Avengers, he's unable to refuse a little girl begging for his help as a doctor. It's a trap set by Black Widow to get him to meet with her. His comment to himself as soon as he realizes he's been tricked: "Should've gotten paid upfront, Banner."

Horrifying Hero: With the exception of Tony Stark, Bruce Banner was at best tolerated by other heroes, at worst feared, until he proved his ability to control himself in battle. His tendency toward collateral damage does not help. However, bystanders, especially in The Avengers, find him more heroic than horrifying.

Hurting Hero: He has to deal with the loss of his life, his work, his love interest, all the while managing the Hulk and Ross' plan to dissect him.

Jekyll & Hyde: Subverted. Banner's Character Development over The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers is about realizing that the Hulk isn't a villain or a mindless beast: he's part of Banner, driven by Banner's simplest and most uncomplicated instincts, and he needs to be accepted rather than constantly restrained.

Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: He's not a jerk, but he's very bitter, aloof, and uptight until Tony starts dumping good-natured teasing on him uninvited, at which point he starts to open up and relax.

Made of Iron: It takes a lot to bring down the Hulk. (No, seriously. A lot.)

Magic Pants: Justified. Two scenes in The Incredible Hulk show he makes sure his pants are several sizes too large and very stretchy.

With Tony Stark, of all people, as they bond over science geekery in The Avengers. This is a complete 180 from their relationship in the comics. It is also implied that Tony's willingness to make merry by teasing Banner (he pokes him with a cattle prod at one point just to see what would happen) helps bring him out of his shell by reminding him that not everyone is afraid of him.

Also with Steve, who is always respectful and kind to him and refers to him as Doctor despite his mutation. Though this is not so odd when considering they are the only two genuinely nice, humble people on a team filled with egos and ulterior motives. Part of this is that they are both the results of the super soldier project. Rogers understands what could have been with Banner.

One Hulk Army: Tony Stark lampshades it to Loki in The Avengers by comparing him to his army. True to form, the only real challenges that the Hulk has had in terms of strength in the MCU as of The Avengers have been Abomination from The Incredible Hulk and Thor as per their comic rivalry.

The Smart Guy: He's the world's foremost expert in gamma radiation, and in The Avengers, once he gets curious enough to drop the heroic neutrality, he picks up on a tiny clue and gets halfway to unraveling S.H.I.E.L.D.'s scheming without trying before the rest of the Avengers realize there's a puzzle to solve.

Socially-Awkward Hero: Ruffalo's Bruce Banner doesn't know how to interact with people. This is justified because he doesn't know how they will react to him. Connected to that is the fear of how he might react to them.

Submissive Badass: As Banner, he'll do almost anything to avoid getting pissed off. However, this is subverted by the time of actual Avengers gathering. At this point his secret is that he's always angry and all he needs to do is direct it and let loose.

Weapon of Choice: The Hulk prefers Dual Wielding shields and will rip a car apart to make them for himself. This is because the Hulk always manifests to defend Bruce or someone else.

What Did I Do Last Night?: Banner tends to wake up unconscious after a Hulk episode, and barely remembers anything of it. He's compared the experience to an acid trip, and can never put the memories back together when transformed or not.

Daughter of General Ross, and Bruce's confidant and love interest. She was one of the leading scientists on Bruce's experiment, and feels partially responsible for his condition. Has an understandably terrible relationship with her father.

Morality Pet: To the Hulk. She's the only one that he won't attack, and feels she still sees Bruce in him. After they reunite, she invokes Morality Chain by keeping his attention focused on her because she knows he isn't going to attack her.

Nice Girl: She's the opposite of her dad in that she is tolerant and forgiving.

General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross

A General who hunts down Bruce Banner believing him to be a threat - in truth, he's after his blood as it contains answers to perfecting the Super Soldier serum.

Adaptational Villainy: In the comics, Ross considers the Hulk a threat, and hunts him in order to stop him. In the movie, he knows perfectly well that Banner would prefer not to fight, but wants to weaponize the Hulk.

Big Bad: All the conflict of The Incredible Hulk is because he wants to dissect Bruce and all the soldiers attacking Bruce answer to him.

Composite Character: His desire to capture and dissect the Hulk echoes that of General John Ryker, another Hulk villain.

Enemy Mine: Temporarily releases Banner from custody and allows him to become the Hulk in order to fight off the Abomination and save the city.

Evilutionary Biologist: Of a sort. While he claims to be hunting down the Hulk just for the public's safety, he's more interested in dissecting Banner in order to discover the Captain America formula.

General Ripper: Hunting Banner and bringing helicopters to a college that, until that point, was not experiencing Hulk problems.

Godzilla Threshold: Is willing to use an uncompleted serum on his star soldier in order to take down the Hulk. When that goes wrong, he sets Banner free to become the Hulk in order to save Harlem from the Abomination.

Inspector Javert: An outside observer would see a general tracking a defector/monster in order to bring him in for custody.

A British Royal Marine assigned to a team headed by General Ross to capture the Hulk, and quickly becomes obsessed with bringing him down, to the point of being injected with a sample of the original super-soldier serum to enhance his strength. After a painful encounter with the Hulk, he becomes even more driven and has Samuel Sterns infuse him with Banner's blood, transforming him into an abomination.

Accidental Misnaming: In The Consultant, Coulson notes that the World Security Council and Blonsky himself do not like the name he has been given.

The Ace: Considered to be one of the best seasoned soldiers around. (He's referred to as "an ace" by the guy who refers him to Ross.)

Blood Knight: Ross asks why he doesn't have a higher rank given his age and experience. He replies "I'm a fighter". This increases as he's augmented, to the point when he stopped giving a crap about orders and just wanted to duke it out with the Hulk.

Comic Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Sterns alludes to the name "abomination", but otherwise he is referred to post-transformation as Blonsky. Averted in The Consultant, where SHIELD agents indeed call him the Abomination, with a mention that the World Security Council really doesn't like it when he's called that. Later on, when he gets a shoutout in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. he's referred to as "Blonsky" instead of "Abomination".

Cursed with Awesome: He's twice as strong as Hulk usually is and keeps his intellect. The downside? He can't change back and his strength doesn't increase like Bruce's does. The transformation also pushes him further into insanity.

Deadpan Snarker: Tim Roth can't help himself from giving him a snarky line or two.

Dragon-in-Chief: Ross's champion against the Hulk. The serum drives him to become a Dragon with an Agenda and, by the climax, becomes a greater danger than Ross, who he tries to kill along with the Hulk.

Drunk on the Dark Side: After he turns into the Abomination, he starts tearing up New York City just because he can.

Evil Brit: On loan from Britain, though in a nod to the comics he's mentioned to have been born in Russia.

Evil Counterpart: Born of a combination of the super-soldier serum and The Hulk's blood; while Blonsky sacrifices his ability to be empowered by rage, he retains his intelligence.

Before becoming the Abomination and after taking the imperfect Super Soldier serum, is easily one to Captain America. His abilities are roughly the same, but he has none of the honor or heroism Steve has.

Fragile Speedster: After taking the first imperfect Super Soldier serum but before becoming the Abomination, he is faster than the Hulk and any normal soldier, but is taken down with one kick into a tree from the Hulk that breaks all the bones in his body.

The Juggernaut: As the Abomination nothing can stop him. He marches down the streets of Harlem despite the military throwing missiles at him. None of it has any effect. This is why Ross had to release another juggernaut; the Hulk.

Lightning Bruiser: After becoming the Abomination he's faster and stronger than before.

Neck Lift: He raises Sterns above his own head, when he demanding that Sterns helpes him gat the Hulk's power.

Personality Powers: As a result of the Call Forward, Blonsky's transformation into the Abomination can be considered this as he mixed an imperfect Super Soldier serum with the Banner's irradiated blood, and thereby turned into the as-far-as-is-known permanent monstrosity that Samuel Sterns calls "an abomination".

Race Lift: An interesting case, he's still a Russian and born in Russia. But he is raised in England as an Englishman, and eventually served the Royal Marines (while his comics counterpart served KGB). This change is to explain Tim Roth's accent.

Removing The Earpiece: Before his second "fight" with the Hulk to show that he doesn't care about Ross or the chain of command anymore.

Revenge Before Reason: Disobeys orders and demands to be injected with Hulk blood without caring about the consequences just so he can become strong enough to beat the Hulk.

Super Soldier: Unlike every other attempt to replicate Cap we've seen, it worked - if he wasn't on the same level, he was pretty close. The only apparent flaw had more to do with his personality than the serum itself: after taking it he cared about nothing more than fighting.

Super Speed: After taking the imperfect Super Soldier serum, he is able to jog faster than soldiers decades younger than him. When he finally stops he acts as though he was taking a calm stroll through the park.

Super Strength: As a Super Soldier he can lift Sterns high above his own head with one hand. After becoming the Abomination he becomes twice as strong as the Hulk. However, it's set and won't increase with rage as he does.

Too Dumb to Live: For future reference, aspiring villains, getting within three feet of the Incredible Hulk and stopping your fight just to taunt him is not a good idea. If it wasn't for the super serum in his system, he certainly would have died.

Unskilled, but Strong: As the Abomination, he is stronger than the Hulk, but doesn't have his tricks (like using two halves of a car as a pair of clubs or smashing the ground to create a shockwave).

Villain with Good Publicity: Even after turning into The Abomination, the WSC still considered Blonsky a war hero and the Hulk at fault, and was close to getting him into The Avengers. Thankfully, saner minds prevailed.

Dr. Samuel Sterns

A scientist who helps Bruce under the moniker "Mr. Blue". Bruce communicates with him wirelessly while in Brazil in hopes of developing a cure for his condition, but necessary ingredients for the formula require him to return to the United States. There, he discovers that Sterns has more than just curing the Hulk on his mind.

Admiring the Abomination: Well, not the actual Abomination, who he's pretty horrified by, but Sterns is in complete awe of Banner as the Hulk, calling it "god-like" and "Olympian", and comparing Bruce to Prometheus giving man fire.

Adaptational Heroism: Samuel Sterns is an eccentric and careless, but mostly harmless scientist in this movie who tries to cure Banner, while in the comics, he is one of the more diabolical villains in that universe. The comic tie-in shows he eventually turned evil, so it's more like his origin story than a true morality shift.

Cassandra Truth: When Blonsky demands to have the Hulk's blood and gamma radiation applied to him, Sterns argues against it, claiming that the gamma-blood combined with Blonksky's experimental super-serumed body might turn him into "an abomination". Blonsky doesn't care, and holds Sterns at gunpoint to transform him anyway.

I Wished You Were Dead: He admits to Bruce that he secretly hoped Bruce was dead, because then he could keep dating Betty and wait for her pining for Bruce to fade. Now Bruce is back, though Leonard knows better than to hold a grudge.

Locked Out of the Loop: He's aware that Betty has been keeping something secret from that's been the reason for Bruce's exile. This also happens when Bruce tries to explain his condition to him, but the little he gives Leonard makes it sound like mere anger management issues.

The Mole: He gives Ross Banner's location so the General can capture him.

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